Personal Selling Skills

1. Personal Selling Skills Chapter - 8

2. Customer oriented selling: The degree to which salespeople practice the marketing concept by trying to help their customers make purchase decisions that will satisfy customer needs • Saxe and Weitz have characterized customer- oriented selling as: • The desire to help customers make satisfactory purchase decisions • Helping customers to assess their needs • Offering products to satisfy those needs

3. Describing products accurately • Avoiding deceptive or manipulative influence tactics • Avoiding the use of high pressure sales techniques • Research studies have shown that successful selling is associated with the following: • Asking questions • Providing product information, making comparisons and offering evidence to support claims

4. Acknowledging the customer’s view point • Agreeing with the customer’s perceptions • Supporting the customer • Releasing tension • Having a richer, more detailed knowledge of the customer • Increased effort • Self-confidence in one’s own ability

5. In order to develop personal selling skills it is useful to distinguish seven phases of the selling process • The opening – Initial impressions • Need and problem identification – needs analysis • Presentation and demonstration – Reference selling, guarantees, trial order • Dealing with objections • Negotiation • Closing the sale • Follow up

6. The opening : Initial impression can cloud later perceptions, so it is important to consider the ways in which a favorable initial response can be achieved • Need and problem recognition: Need analysis approach suggests that early in the sales process that sales person should adopt a question and listen posture • Use open ended questions to make the customer to talk instead of using close ended questions

7. The Presentation and Demonstration: • Having identified the needs and problems of the buyer, the presentation provides the opportunity for the salesperson to convince the buyer that they can supply the solution • Many sales situations involve risk to the buyer and the buyer may be reluctant to change from the present supplier. There are four major ways by which risk can be reduced: • Reference selling, demonstrations, guarantee and trail orders

8. Dealing with objections: Objections are any concerns or questions raised by the buyer • The effective approach for dealing with objections involves two areas • Preparation of convincing answers • Development of a range of techniques for answering objections in a manner which permits the acceptance of these answers without loss of face on the part of the buyer

9. Following techniques can be used to overcome objections – Refer fig 8.2 • Listen and do not interrupt • Agree and counter • The straight denial • Question the objections • Forestall the objection – raise the objection • Turn the objection into a trail close • Hidden objections • Start high but be realistic

10. Attempt to trade concession for concession • Implement behavioral skills • Buyers’ negotiating skills • Closing the sale: • The ability to close the sale • Sales people to take the initiative • Some sales people are reluctant to close the sale fearing rejection by the buyer • A major consideration is timing

11. Closing techniques which the sales person can use Refer to fig 8.4 • Simply ask for the order • Summarize and then ask for the order • The concession close • The alternative close • The objection close • Action agreement

12. Follow up • For most companies repeat business is the hall mark of success and the follow up call can play a major role by showing that the sales person really cares about the customer rather than only be interested in making sales • E-mail can be used for follow up especially in B to B situations